The Rise from Ashes: the Phoenix's flame
by Immortal Horse
Summary: Alone and deaged, Isabelle was left on Bruce Wayne's doorstep by her older brother. Bruces takes her in and she becomes one of the founding members of Young Justice. Now the team must face one of their greatest challenges as Isabelle's past comes back... oh, did I mention that Isabelle doesn't remember anything from her past? Please vote on a pairing for Isabelle, NO SLASH!
1. prologue

**I DO NOT OWN YOUNG JUSTICE! AND I NEVER WILL!**

The Rise from Ashes: the Phoenix's flame

"_Like the Phoenix who rises from their ashes, we must rise above our problems, our hate, our anger to become better people" -unknown_

…

Prologue

It was a quiet night in Gotham city, which was strange because it was never quiet in Gotham.

"Crap!" a voice broke the silence, the voice belonged to a girl of 15, but she was pretty petite, making her look-like she was 10. The girl had long, pretty auburn hair and large, innocent golden eyes that went with her ultra-pale skin. The picture of innocence was ruined went the teen swore. She carefully picked up a carelessly dropped bottle and cleaned it with her already dirty shirt. As soon as she got a clear look at the bottle of pills, the girl threw it back on the ground and swore again.

"Of all the days…" she muttered, mostly to herself, giving a sigh, the auburn haired girl stepped into the light of the streetlamp, she looked longingly at an apartment building before she heard a sound and the girl disappeared into the shadows of Gotham once more.

OOO

"I'm back" the girl said, she dropped her bag unto the table.

"Hi back" an aloof voice drawled, the owner of said voice walked into the room, a scythe in hand.

The girl rolled her eyes "Shut up Grim!" she told him "or I'll have YOU search for supplies"

Grim placed a heart over his heart "you wouldn't my dear sister, sending your own flesh and blood in the rat-infested streets that have the nerve to call a city!"

"Funny, YOU seem to have no qualms about sending ME out." The girl said dryly

"Because, my dear Phoenix, is because you are simply better at stealth then I am."

"And that's coming from the guy who is supposed to be the personation of death himself?" Phoenix put her hands on her hips "And don't you DARE call me Phoenix, its Nixie!"

Grim held his hand "shhh, I hear someone" his eyes widened and he looked at Nixie

"Nix, you didn't happen to annoy any of Joker's men, did you?"

"A few weeks ago, maybe" Nixie shrugged "why do you ask brother?"

Grim swore loudly "you have five minutes, grab what's important and then go out the fire exit. I will distract the goons long enough, if you waste even a second – you will end up dead!"

Nixie nodded and ran passed her brother, heading to her room. Nixie's room was like the rest of the place she shared with her older brother –plain, dirty and in serious need of a new roof. Nixie didn't even spare a thought as she threw about half her clothes, her books and a few choice items into a backpack before grabbing her mother's necklace and she escaped out of the window.

On her way out, she heard shouts coming from the house and then a thud "GRIM!" she yelled, before clasping a hand over her mouth in horror

"What was that?" she heard before she took off,

"There's the brat!" a goon called shooting at her

Nixie swore under her breath as she started running in zigzags, trying to throw the men off her trail. Desperately, she started to look around for a hiding place when she felt a sharp pain in her stomach.

'Crap!' she thought, as she fell to the ground, she didn't even try to get up. 'This is the end, if I remain motionless, maybe they'll lose interest…'

"_Brother!_" Nixie gasped out before falling unconscious

The first goon cocked his gun "get ready to die brat" he said, but then the blade of a scythe went through his heart, the goon looked at it in shock before dying. A man pulled the blade out and swung his scythe so that the blade severed the other goon's head.

"_No filth shall look upon my sister_" he hissed, banishing his scythe. Grim gently picked up Nixie and looked into her eyes "_now my little Phoenix, you must be reborn from the ashes._"

…

Being the butler to Bruce Wayne, and therefore Batman, Alfred had seen many strange things but nothing was stranger than finding a 5 year old girl, wrapped in a scarlet blanket, fast asleep on the doorstep, with a letter clutched in her hand that had written on it in old English text 'Bruce Wayne' Along with a thin, old looking book.

Puzzled, Alfred picked up the girl and walked back into the mansion, closing the door behind him.

"Master Bruce" he called as loud as he dared, thankfully, said billionaire came into the room within a few minutes

"What is it… Alfred, why do you have a little girl in your arms?" Bruce asked, looking at his butler for an explanation

"Well Master Bruce, I was on my way to get today's paper when I saw her on the doorstep holding this letter and this book sir." Alfred shifted the child so he could hand the letter to Bruce, who quickly read it, his eyes widening.

"Alfred, I need you to get another room ready, it seems I have been entrusted with her." Bruce told him, he quickly dropped the letter unto the floor and walked out of the room, still holding the book.

Confused, Alfred bent over and picked up the letter, it was written in old English text and what puzzled him the most was that it was signed "Death"

**Alright, my first Young Justice fic! How did you like the prelude? Not very long, but oh well, deal with it. Don't worry; I'll put up Death's letter as a bonus so there's more. Please review!**

Bonus!

Dear Bruce Wayne,

It has come to my attention that you owe me a favor, and I have come to collect on that. The child Alfred holds in his arms is my sister, the Ancient and Highest Law (written by Fate and Justice, agreed by all except Chaos (but then he _never_ agrees on anything) forbids I raise her. Therefore, it is with great sorrow, I ask that you raise her as your own along with Richard Grayson.

Do on fret about her lost memories; I shall give them back to her at the right time.

If you do not accept, I shall know and she'll be taken to someone else who will raise her. You were the best choice; please do not throw this one chance she has for having a semi decent family away.

May your life be long and your luck be generous,

Death

Lord of the underworld

Reaper of souls

High Member of the Universe counsel

Twin brother of Life

Ps

I am enclosing a book that will have everything you need to know about rasing her, after all Bruce, she isn't normal


	2. chapter one half

**I DO NOT OWN YOUNG JUSTICE! I will try my best to follow the episodes, but be warned, I haven't seen them in awhile**

The Rise from Ashes: the Phoenix's flame

"_Like the Phoenix who rises from their ashes, we must rise above our problems, our hate, our anger to become better people" -unknown_

…

Chapter ½, meeting the gang

(six years later…)

Isabelle Wayne or Phoenix was waiting for the team, her dark auburn hair hung loose on her shoulders, her reflective shades hiding her golden eyes. She wore a black T-shirt that said in white writing "Non-flammable? Challenge accepted"*, faded jeans, a jean jacket, a phoenix pendent choker and black sneakers and her right arm being in a white sling.

"PHOENIX!" Phoenix looked up to see her brother, Robin running towards her and a blur just in head of him

"NIXIE! NIXIE! NIXIE!" the blur picked Phoenix up and was now twirling around the room, Phoenix still in his arms

"Let go of me KF" Phoenix said, closing her eyes "Preferably before I get motion sick." Kid Flash nodded and put her down in front of Robin

"It's great to see you Nixie!" the civvie clad hero grinned at her

"We saw each other last month when you two nearly blew up my room… again" Phoenix deadpanned

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that" Wally said chuckling nervously, he rubbed the back of his head

"How can you forget about Nix giving us the bat-glare?" Robin asked the two shuddered at the memory of Phoenix glaring at them.

"Do I want to know?" Kaldur asked

"NO!" Wally, Phoenix and Robin called at the same time

"Hello kiddos!" Flash called, zooming into the room

"Hey!" KF said, Phoenix nodded in greeting

Red Tornado, Aquaman, Black Canary, Hawkman, Captain Marvel and Batman filed into the room and the five sidekicks lined up

"This cave was the original secret sanctuary of the justice league" Batman said, he began to pace "we're calling it into service again. Since you five are determined to stay together and fight the good fight" he turned to face the sidekicks "You'll do it on league terms. Red tornado volunteered to live here and be your supervisor…" (Phoenix could help but give a small amused smile at the pun) "Black Canary's in charge of training. I will deploy you on your missions."

"Real missions?" Robin questioned

"Is there any other kind?" Phoenix asked her brother

Batman gave the two a small glare before answering Robin's question "yes, but covert."

"The league will still handle the obvious stuff" Flash said "There's a reason we have this big targets on our chests."

"Cadmus proves that bad guys are getting smarter" Aquaman started

"That's the biggest oxymoron anyone has ever seen" Phoenix muttered under her breath

"…Batman needs a team that can operate on the sly." Aquaman looked over at said hero

"The six of you will be that team" Batman told them

"cool… wait? Six?" Robin asked, a little confused

Phoenix just smirked and took Batman's statement

Batman looked pointedly behind them and they turned around to see two figures, the one of the left smaller than the other one

"This is the Martian Manhunter's niece" Batman told them, referring to the green skinned girl on the left, who smiled a bit shyly at them "Miss Martian."

"Hi" she said, giving a wave

Walley put his hand on his hip and looked at robin "I'm likin' this gig more every minute" he said

Phoenix wacked Wally on the arm

The red head took a few steps forward "welcome aboard! I'm kid flash, that's Robin (robin took a step forward and waved), Aqualad (Aqualad nodded in greeting), it's cool to forget their names."

At this point Phoenix just face palmed "And I'm Phoenix" she said

"I'm honored to be included" Miss Martian said, she clasped her hands together as she said that

The four walked up to her, Robin turned around and gestured to the group as he said "Hey Superboy! Come meet Miss M!"

The clone walked over and they watched as Miss Martain's shirt changed color from white to black

"I like your t-shirt" she told him shyly

Superboy blinked and gave her a smile and then Robin elbowed him. Wally ran to the other side of super boy and placed his arm on the clone's shoulders

"Today is the day" Kaldur said, they all looked at each other

"Is anyone else getting the feeling that something incredibly epic is supposed to be happening right about now?" Phoenix asked, looking at her team mates

"Yeah, I get this feeling when I'm watching a TV series and a main character says something epic and then there's the title" Wally nodded "I'm getting it too"

"And me" Robin nodded

"Getting what?" Miss M asked them

"Nothing" the three chimed in unison, which got them weird looks from Superboy and Kaldur

"Pay up bats" the group heard Flash tell Batman behind them

"FLASH!/BATMAN!" three rather disgruntled voiced called to their mentors

…

**AN: I really wanted to end it here, but I won't be so cruel, so I put in the first training scene with Black Canary**

…

Phoenix walked over to the group in her hero outfit; a black turtleneck elbow length shirt under a black sleeveless tunic and black gloves. On the tunic on the upper torso area was her symbol – a yellow circle with a black phoenix on it. She also wore black leggings that were reinforced with a flexible armor (in fact, all her clothes were), black boots and her utility belt. Pinned to her tunic straps by two red flame pins was a black cape/cloak like Batman's cape. On her face was her red masquerade like mask, complete with yellow, red and orange feathers.

"Sorry I'm late!" she called, running into the training room

"Glad you could join us Phoenix, next time, be early" Black Canary told her "now, where was I? oh yes, combat is about controlling conflict. Putting the battle on your terms, you should be acting and never reacting – I'll need a sparring partner."

"Right here!" Wally said, a half-eaten banana still in his hand, he walked up to black canary and finished his banana, tossing the peel aside "after this, I'll show you my moves"

Black Canary smirked and gave a little nod before immediately attacking Wally, she punched at him but the speedster put up his arm to block it and Black Canary swept her leg and knocked Wally onto his back.

Kaldur, Robin, Miss M and Phoenix looked taken aback by how fast Wally fell.

Kid Flash was on his back, on the floor, looking a bit shocked "hurts so good" he said a tad weakly

Black Canary put her hands on her hips and with a smirked she told him "good block" in a louder voice she asked the everyone else "But did anyone see what he did wrong?" as she helped him up

"Ooh!" robin waved his hand in the air "he hit on our teacher and got served?"

"Dude!" Wally protested, sounding rather embarrassed

"Face it Wally, you got your just deserts" Phoenix smirked at the red head

"He allowed me to dictate the terms" Black Canary corrected him

"Please" Superboy scoffed from behind Black Canary

The blonde haired teacher looked at him

"With my powers, the battle's always on my terms" Superboy added "I'm a living weapon and this is a waste of my time." He glared defiantly at Black Canary

"Prove it" she challenged

Superboy walked up to her and Wally quickly backed up

"This doesn't look too good" Phoenix told Robin

"I agree" Robin whispered as they watch Superboy fight Black Canary and lose, then getting up and fighting her again.

"I'm going to try to get a better view" Phoenix said, she began to walk around the lit up circle, keeping her eyes on the fight, she didn't notice Wally's banana peel laying there, innocently on the ground.

"OW!" it was Phoenix's cry of pain that brought the team over

"What happened?" Miss Martian asked

"Are you okay Nix?" Robin asked, crouching down beside her

"I just rebroke my arm! DO YOU THINK I'M OKAY!?" Phoenix yelled, clutching her right arm to her chest

"I'll take her to the med-bay" Wally said, picking up the youngest teammate and dashing off

As they watched him speed away, robin held up his right hand and began counting off fingers "five, four, three, two, one…"

"OW! NIXIE! WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!" they heard Wally scream

"I'd better tell Batman what happened" Robin said, he stepped to the side

…

**And finished, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, So Phoenix broke her arm again, this time to Wally's carelessness and the next chapter will be when the official story starts, a few months later. I had the scene with meeting M'gann in my head so I decided to write it… anyway, enough rambling from me**

**REVIEW PEOPLE!**

***=you can find this shirt at ThinkGeek, just type it [thinkgeek] in your goggle search.**


	3. Chapter one

**I DO NOT OWN YOUNG JUSTICE! I apologize for any OOCness**

The Rise from Ashes: the Phoenix's flame

"_Like the Phoenix who rises from their ashes, we must rise above our problems, our hate, our anger to become better people" -unknown_

…

Chapter 1

(3 months later)

Phoenix laid on the crouch reading a book as she waited for Megan to finish baking cookies; she had just reached the climax when Batman called the team to the mission room.

"Oh all the times!" She exclaimed, putting her book down and getting to her feet, she slipped passed Megan and into the training room

"Hello robin" she whispered to her older brother as she hid in the shadows

"hello Nix" Robin greeted her warmly, they stood together as they listen to Batman give their current mission, it was a simple in and out to retrieve a stolen flash drive that had some very important notes on it.

"Are you excited for your first mission Nix?" Wally asked her as they walked to the bioship

Phoenix glared at the speedster "It wouldn't have been my first if you had thrown away that banana peel!" she hissed

Wally held his hands up in front of him "I said I was sorry Nixie"

Phoenix had been out of commission for the past three months because she had slipped on Wally's banana peel (and since then, Black Canary made it a strict rule that there be no food in the training room while they were training.) and rebroke her right arm. And then Batman, her adoptive father was paranoid and kept her out for a few weeks until he was sure she could defend herself. As a result she was out of commission for three months.

"And I recall you getting chewed out by both Batman and Robin" Phoenix added

Wally paled "um, er yeah…" he rubbed the back of his head

Phoenix smirked

"Hey Baywatch!" Wally turned to see Artemis walking towards them

"Hi Arty!" Phoenix grinned at the blonde archer

"Hello Nix" Artemis nodded in greeting "Baywatch, I need to talk to you…" Phoenix slipped into the shadows and continued her journey to the bioship

"Miss Martian, set the coordinates for Gotham city" Kaldur told her, the green skinned teen nodded and within a few seconds, they were leaving the hanger.

As soon as they got into the air, Phoenix paled and put her head between her knees, trying to keep her lunch down.

"Are you okay?" Kaldur asked

Phoenix only shrugged and kept her head down

"Nix gets motion-sick really easy" Robin explained to the Atlantean

Kaldur nodded in understanding

OOO

Gotham was quiet once more that night; Phoenix stood at her place and looked outside the window, scanning for enemies. She was getting unnerved by how still it was.

'_Phoenix! I need your help!' _Robin called over the telepathy link

'_On it_' Phoenix replied, she ran down the hall and into the main warehouse she saw Robin fighting Joker's goons

Phoenix counted the goons and grinned 'this will be easy' she thought, running into the fray of the battle. Within a few minutes she found herself back to back with Robin as they took down goons with what Phoenix refered to as their 'awesomely awesome ninja skills awesomeness'

Just as they defeated the last goons, Phoenix turned to Robin "it's quiet, did you receive word from any of the team?"

Robin shook his head "no, not since I contacted you" the two siblings looked at each other

"Oh man! I hope nothing happened to them!" Phoenix exclaimed worriedly, she looked at her older brother for confirmation

"Don't worry Nix, I'm sure they're fine" Robin said, his word comforting the younger girl

"I hope so" Phoenix said

The time seemed to freeze as a voice said "Hello dear children" a man appeared out of thin air; he was about 6'0" and had long blood-red hair and intense red eyes and chalk white skin. He wore a long black trench coat, a white button up with a red tie, black dress pants and shoes. But what really stood out about him with his blood red leather wings

"Who are you?" Robin demanded, taking a protective stance in front of Phoenix

"Isn't that sweet" the man mocked "all protective of the piece of filth!"

"She is NOT a piece of filth!" Robin defended her, pulling out a bird-a-rang and preparing to throw it

The man looked at Phoenix "why of course you would be reborn" he smirked "but that just makes the game more fun. Nothing, not even Death can stand in the way of Corruption! Remember that well Phoenix!" He disappeared in a flash and as soon as he left, both Robin and Phoenix fell to the ground, unconscious.

OOO

As soon as he saw Phoenix's and Robin's forms on the ground, Wally knew that this was NOT his day.

"Phoenix! Robin! Wake up!"

'_Wally? You there?' _Wally heard Megan asked carefully

'_Yeah, Kaldur?'_

'_Here'_ Kaldur thought '_Conner?'_

'_Here'_ Conner thought-grunted

'_I'm here too'_ Artemis added '_where's Robin and Phoenix?'_

'_Out cold, I dunno what happened'_ Wally said

'_Wally, get them to the Bioship, we'll join you in a few minutes'_ Kaldur told them and Wally shook her heard them nod in agreement

The red and yellow clad hero gently picked up the knocked out form of Phoenix, her small body much lighter then he remembered. Wally raced to the bioship and gently placed Phoenix on the floor before rushing back and doing the same with Robin. Just after he had set robin down, Wally's stomach growled, or rather, roared.

"Hang on, I'll get something to eat" Wally mumbled

"You know, talking to yourself is the first sign of craziness" Wally heard Robin say behind him

"Rob! You're okay!" Wally sighed in relief; Robin looked at his surroundings

"How'd I get on the bioship?"

"I carried you" Wally told them, he rubbed his stomach "do we have any snacks?"

Robin nodded "yeah, I brought a bag of 'em"

"You are da man!" Wally exclaimed in happiness, rushing over to Robin's bag and pulling out a Butterfinger candy bar and a bag of chips

Robin shook his head and watched as the rest of the team enter the bioship

"I see you're awake" Kaldur said "what about Phoenix?"

Robin sat up and looked over his sister; he checked her pulse "she's still unconscious, hopefully she wakes up"

Wally nodded "yeah, it'd be bad enough telling Bats that she was knocked out, but telling him when IS knocked out is ten times worse!" he shuddered

"How?" Artemis asked

"You don't know how Batman gets when Phoenix is hurt – badly" Wally shuddered "I literally had to hide in another country until Batman calmed down and then I was still given all the worst chores for a month."

"At least you didn't have an angry Batman on your tail" Robin pointed out

"Yeah, but I swear sometimes Bats gives me this look that practically screams 'I-want-to-murder-you-but-i-can't-so-I'll-settle-for-glaring-at-you'!" the speedster complained loudly as the bioship took off

"What did you do Baywatch?" Artemis asked, raising an eyebrow

"First training and a banana peel" Megan answered

The rest of the ride back to the cave was spent with Artemis trying to get a decent answer out of Robin, Kaldur wondering if it was a good idea to tell Artemis about the Banana peel incident, Wally silently praying that no one would tell Artemis, Conner doing whatever he did and Megan steering the ship.

"Don't worry KF, I'll tell Batman, but you owe me one" Robin told his best friend who gave him a grin

"Thanks Rob… wait… should I be worried?" Wally's question was only met with a crackle of laughter

OOO

"What happened?" Batman asked upon seeing Phoenix's limp form being carried by Robin

"A man appeared and after he left…" Robin face scrunched up as he tried to remember something "we must have blacked out because the next thing I remember is being in the bioship"

Batman nodded "take her to the med bay and I need to check something" Robin nodded and headed to the dreaded room while batman went to the zeta tubes

"Recognized: 02-Batman" the computer said after he put in his destination. Within a few minutes Batman walked out of the abandoned phone booth and onto the streets of Gotham it didn't take long to reached his manor

"Hello master Bruce" Alfred greeted him "You're home early"

"Alfred, where's the book Death left with Isabelle?" Bruce asked, taking off his cowl

"In the top door of your desk, right side sir" Alfred told him and Bruce nodded, he quickly walked up the stairs and into his study. His steps became quicker as he reached the desk, going behind it he hurriedly opened the right side top door and just as Alfred said, there was the old leather bound book. Bruce picked it up and it flipped open to a random page where there was a picture of a man with the caption at the bottom "Corruption" and a note from death

"_Hey Bruce, if the book opens up to this page, it means HE is back. You must contact me ASAP for the fate of your world is/will be hanging in balance, but this time you heroes won't be able to stop it. _

_-Death"_

Death's words hit Bruce like a brick, he knew about Isabelle's past lives, but someone with THIS amount of power after her was a tad overwhelming. After all, Isabelle was still a child even in her species' eyes.

No, he would not let anything harm his adoptive daughter, nothing, not even this Corruption the book spoke up could stop him from fighting to his last breath to protect her.

But Death's words wormed their way into his mind "_No one can escape Death, Bruce Wayne. I WILL have everyone in my clutches sooner or later._"

He remembered he had thought Death was a villain, but the smooth talking celestial being proved anything but a villain. In fact he had helped Batman and saved his life many times.

Bruce snapped out of his thoughts and tucked the book into his belt and put his cowl back on –after all, he had some questions that needed to be answered.

…

**ANNDD finished with the 'official' first chapter, what do you think? Good, needs improvement?**

**As I said, I apologize for any OOCness, I don't really watch the episodes, but I do like to read the fanfictions, so yeah…**

**But anyway, what'd you think of Phoenix's first mission? Good? Needed improvement?**

**I thought it was rather ironic that Phoenix got motion sick easily and she's named after a bird… yeah.**

**Please review or I'll sic Batman on Wally again for the banana incident…**

**If you don't get the banana incident, the go back a chapter and read the first training.**


	4. Chapter two

**I DO NOT OWN YOUNG JUSTICE! I apologize for any OOCness**

The Rise from Ashes: the Phoenix's flame

"_Like the Phoenix who rises from their ashes, we must rise above our problems, our hate, our anger to become better people" -unknown_

…

Chapter two

Death wasn't happy, and that was an understatement, he was furious, seething, in a rage and all those good words. He angrily paced his office "How dare he!" Death snarled, scaring quite a bit of souls sentenced to serve him "That worthless piece of scumbag! Utter waste of my time!" he snarled

"I hope you're not talking about me dear brother" Death heard his twin, Life say behind him

"Life" Death snarled, his foul mood increasing at the sight of his sister

"Now that's no way to greet your twin" Life chided and Death growled at her, unlike Death, while Death had pale skin, long sleeked back black hair and red eyes - Life had long blonde hair and light blue eyes and fair skin.

"What do you want? You are interrupting me and I was in the middle of something very important!"

Life snorted "you call wearing a path in your carpet _important_?"

"…" Death turned to face his twin "Corruption has escaped, he has gone after Phoenix"

Life's expression changed "You can't get involved Death! It would be against the Ancient Laws!"

"There HAS to be a loophole!" Death growled "I just know it Life!"

Life walked up to her brother "Brother, please settle down – you're letting your anger cloud your judgment!"

"You didn't even care about Nixie" Death growled angirly and the fire in the fireplace blazed white and Life backed up, she knew she had to get out of there and fast before Death blew a gasket.

"Calm yourself, I believe the answers you seek are in CC 19-022" Life told him before disappearing

Death took several breaths before going over to his desk and looking up the section Life had recommended, a smirk found its way on Death's face as he read.

OOO

Phoenix narrowed her eyes and she and Robin circled each other, looking for a weakness.

"This will be good" Wally said, he grinned and leaned back against the wall

"Isn't Phoenix at an unfair advantage?" Kaldur asked

"Nah" Wally shook his head "with Bats allowing Phoenix to us her powers, I'd say those two are about even"

"How Baywatch?" Artemis asked

"Just watch and see beautiful" Wally told her

Artemis wacked Wally's arm

Robin threw a bird-a-rang at Phoenix who blocked it with her right arm and in the same movement; she punched the air with her left fist, sending a stream of fire at the older boy. Robin saw the fire coming and summersaulted away.

"Whoa…" Artemis was amazed

Phoenix frowned she quickly cartwheeled over to Robin, and as she was reaching him, she summersaulted and sent a wave of flames from her feet. Robin did a back flip and landed on his feet. He sent another bird-a-rang at Phoenix, only this one hit its mark.

Phoenix grimaced, but moved it closer to Robin, she created a fire dagger and smirked at Robin "let's dance"

Phoenix slashed at Robin with her dagger, but the boy wonder step stepped and knocked Phoenix off her feet, the auburn haired girl only let her dagger sizzle out, before springing back to her feet.

She punched Robin's ribcage, sending him skidding a few paces away from her. Robin sprinted at Phoenix who smirked and moved out of the way, tripping her brother.

Robin only tucked himself up into a ball and rolled before resuming his stance, Phoenix shot a fireball at him, but Robin sled under and grabbed her left ankle with his ankles. With a slight twist, Robin had pulled his sister down on the floor using her momentum to get up while she went down

Phoenix snarled and set a stream of fire at Robin who calmly blocked it by holding both of his arms in front of his face, Phoenix cut off the flame and got up, she tackled her brother to the ground, sitting on his back, with his arms pinned under him

"Do you yield?" she asked, holding a fire dagger to his neck

"_Do I have to say it in front of everyone else?_" Robin asked her

Phoenix pondered it "_no_"

Robin sighed "_I yield_" Phoenix grinned at him and got off of the boy wonder

"Good fight Rob, what's the score again?" Phoenix asked

Robin got up "yours is 67(wins)-23(draws)-78 (losses), mine is 78-23-67."

"Only twenty-seven more times to beat you rob*!" Phoenix grinned as they walked towards their friends

"What happens then?" Conner asked

Robin grinned "Me and Nix have this little competition, the first person to get a hundred wins doesn't have to go to the next…" he trailed off

"If we told you the prize, we'd have to kill you" Phoenix said "sorry, but it's to protect our identity."

"That's a little extreme" Kaldur told her

"We won't kill you; we'll just cut out your vocal chords and then hide you away in a little room where you can never be found again!" Robin told them, jokingly, he gave Phoenix a wink

"And then to make sure you never tell anyone else, we shall feed you Batman's cooking" the two said in unison, they crackled before disappearing

"Don't worry about those two" Wally told his a wide eyed, Artemis, Kaldur, Megan and Superboy "they're joking, they did the same thing to me about 18 months ago" the speedster shrugged "They wouldn't really hurt you guys, so relax. Besides the worst thing they threatened was forcing you to eat batman's cooking."

"How bad is it?" Megan asked

"_I_ can't even stomach it"

"'nuff said Baywatch" Artemis said

OOO

Batman was normally calm and collected, even in the face of danger so it was a bit unnerving to see him unnerved.

"What's wrong" Superman asked, he leaned against the wall and looked at the man

"I need to get a hold of someone, but I can't" Batman growled

"Who?" J'onn asked, coming into the room with a file

"Death" the dark knight said, he turned to see Superman's befuddled expression and J'onn usual expression

"How do you plan to call upon one of Universe's councilmen and one of the governing Lords?" J'onn asked

"I don't know yet" Batman admitted "Robin and Phoenix report of seeing a man who is identified as Corruption"

J'onn stiffened at the mention of his name "It is never good if he is seen, Corruption is Evil's right hand man and things will become disastrous if he were to come here."

"What do you suggest?" Batman asked

"I have heard stories of earth once being under the protection of a man, a man so powerful even the stars blackened with his presence" J'onn told him "his name was lost, but the legends were always consistent on one thing – he cared for a fire-bird."

OOO

The tension was thick and continued to grow as the two competitors glared at each other from across the table; Phoenix's hand gave a twitch as she continued to glare at Wally, the speedster glared back, albeit less impressively.

"How'd they go into a glaring contest again?" Artemis asked Kaldur "I got lost"

"Wally joked about how Phoenix uses her cuteness and that she couldn't scare anyone, Phoenix took that as a challenge and they ended up have a glaring contest, the first one to flitch loses" Kaldur explained

"Sounds petty" the archer raised an eyebrow

"Recognized: 02-Batman" the computer announced and Wally blinked

"What's Bats doing here?" Wally asked and Phoenix shrugged, she got up and neatly did a back flip, landing on her feet

The four of them were in the dining room as they waited for Megan to finish cooking lunch; Wally and Phoenix were having a glaring contest (until Wally blinked and Phoenix declared her triumph)

"Where's Robin?" Batman asked, coming into the room

"In the rafters, in his room, training, hacking…" Phoenix trailed off once she saw Batman's expression "Let me get him…OI! ROBIN! GET YOUR BUTT DOWN HERE OR I'LL TELL WALLY WHAT REALLY HAPPENED TWO WEEKS AGO!"

Batman raised an eyebrow at his protégé "something I should know?" he asked

Phoenix shook her head "nope!" she said brightly as Robin appeared at her right elbow

"You wouldn't" Robin looked at the auburn haired girl

Phoenix only crackled in response, making her sound a whole lot like her brother

"Robin, I need to talk to you" Batman said, the boy wonder nodded and they walked out of the room

The four watched the two walk out of the room and before anyone could say anything, Megan came into the room with lunch.

OOO

"…and then he said "Not even Death can stand in the way of Corruption"." Robin told his mentor when they had reached the mission room

"Is this the man?" Batman held up his "handy-dandy guide to everything you need to know about raising Phoenix" (at least, that's what Death and Robin referred to it) at the page with the picture of Corruption

"Yes" the boy wonder nodded "Is he after Nix?"

"Yes" the dark knight placed his hand on his forehead, worry showing in his features "And I need to contact Death, he says that's the only way we have a chance of defeating Corruption is…" Batman looked at Robin "we figure out some way to restore Phoenix's memories, thus unlocking her powers or if Death comes, but he is forbidden by the Ancient Laws

"The second one is obviously out, but how do we 'unlock' her memories, I doubt hitting her very hard on the head will help." Robin crossed his arms "you have an idea, don't you?"

"Death notes that if we put her though a very stressful situation, so stressful it's sure to cause PTSD there's a fifty-fifty chance she'd regain her memories." Batman scowled, he crossed his arms "With that being said, Death wrote that unless it was life or death for the planet and there was no other option that if we'd do it, we'd have to answer to him."

"And you don't want anyone else to know about this" Robin confirmed "Last resort option?"

Batman nodded "yes" and Robin nodded, the dark knight made his way to the door, but stopped when Robin called after him

"Are we gonna tell Nix about this?"

"Not yet" Batman told him before walking out of the room

…

**Annnndddd done, so the plot thickens as we meet Life, Death throws a hissy fit**

**Death: I resent that remark!**

**Whatever! And some of Phoenix's powers are revealed and Batman reveals to Robin about Corruption and you know what? Why the heck am I doing a recap? If you are reading this then you most likely read the chapter and know what the heck happened! My rant aside - please review!**

***= Robin and Phoenix are siblings, there's bound to be some sibling rivalry between them, so I thought the contest was rather fitting.**

**If you have any suggestions, don't hesitate to Pm me or put them in a review!**


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